Inauguration Ball

Out with the old, in with the new. May 6 was Election Day in France, and Inauguration Day in Russia. The French replaced the GLNF (Sarkozy) with the GLF (Hollande). Plus ça change …

The Russians replaced Comrade Bearcub with … Comrade Bear. And, in one of his final acts as President, Dimitry Medvedev replaced the commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, with a (slightly) younger man:

President Dmitry Medvedev has dismissed Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky and appointed Vice-Admiral Viktor Chirkov for the position, the Kremlin press office reported on Sunday, without explaining the reasons for the dismissal.Chirkov, 52, was commander of the Baltic Fleet before his appointment. Vysotsky, 57, had occupied the top military post for almost five years.

Igor Korotchenko, chairman of the Defense Ministry’s Public Council said that the reshuffle was a normal practice for military officials. “Medvedev’s move will open the way for new, younger military specialists,” Korotchenko said.

“On June 1 or a bit later we will resume routine extended patrolling of the world’s oceans by strategic nuclear submarines,” Admiral Vysotsky said at a meeting with naval personnel on 3 Feb. The Russian military believes that the submarine fleet is still the backbone of the Russian Navy, and that it will continue to play an important deterrent role in the future.

Sevmash shipyard [in Severodvinsk] is to convert the nuclear submarine Belgorod for a “series of special missions,” said Admiral Vysotsky [on 9 Feb.]. “Belgorod will be completed as a special project. The boat will have many special tasks ahead of it,” Vysotsky said.

Admiral Chirkov [you may be more familiar with his brother Yuri] is singing from a slightly different hymnal:

After his appointment, Chirkov said he would prioritize the construction of navy fleets in Russia. “The most important thing for Russia is to build a fleet with the support of the president and like-minded persons,” Chirkov stated.

And who might those ‘like-minded persons’ be? In Comrade Bear’s new Russia, that could be almost anyone and everyone.

In any case, Lunghu doesn’t see this as merely another internal bureaucratic naval battle between the Silent Service (Vysotsky) and the Tincan Sailors (Chirkov). Was a blue Honda somehow involved?